A VITAL Winsford after-school club is up and running again following almost a year out of action when it was forced to shut.

Playspaces After School Club provided a lifeline for parents and children throughout the town but closed last summer when the mobile classroom it was using was demolished.

Organisers expressed fears that parents would have to quit their jobs to look after their children, and the search began in earnest to find a suitable replacement.

After months of fruitless searching, Winsford Youth Forum workers were overjoyed when users of Wharton Youth Club agreed to let them use their building during the day.

Parents and children, aged five to eleven years old and mainly from High Street Primary School, are relieved that the club is up and running again.

Co-ordinator Jill McQuaid said: "We had to vacate our premises at Willow Wood Primary School last year - the mobile we used was being demolished.

"For quite a while we couldn't find any other premises, but we found Wharton Youth Club and the youngsters who use it were in agreement that we could use it.

"It's taken six months to move in and get the building all up to Ofsted standards.

"The young people at Wharton were very helpful and even helped out with some of the work."

Clr Pam Booher, chairman of Wharton Youth Club, said: "We are very pleased to see it going on again and all the parents are very pleased - it's absolutely fantastic to have got the Ofsted approval now.

"We are hoping to go from strength to strength with the club now."